


patchwork

by guide_to_the_galaxy



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (IDW Comics), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherhood, Brotherly Love, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Light Angst, these bois deserve the world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-23
Updated: 2020-01-23
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22368622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guide_to_the_galaxy/pseuds/guide_to_the_galaxy
Summary: Raph finally finds peace, and slowly, he hopes he can guide his brothers to it too.
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo & Michelangelo & Raphael (TMNT)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 49





	patchwork

**Author's Note:**

> A short drabble taking place post-idw 100 and beyond. I really enjoy the slower pace and tone shift of issue 101 and I just want peace for these boys

Raph gets a little farm. Finally he gets to sit and watch things come to life. A little place where his family can hunker down when they get tired of the city, and his brothers do pop in from time to time, blown in by winter winds or long, long days.

Donnie comes around sometimes just to unwind but promises not to stay long, even when Raph tries several _dozen_ times to convince him that he isn’t a pest.

And then Donnie _‘oh damn raph, you let the faucet leak like that?’_ s himself into hanging back an extra week.

He’s slow about his work, purposeless almost in how he wanders the farmhouse looking for shit to piece back together. Ignoring the fact that his psyche and his trauma should be on top of the list.

Sometimes Raph will catch him numb- just staring out into the river like he’s seeing nothing at all. Raph knows he’s seeing everything, though, played back over and over again in perfect detail because it’s Donnie.

Other times he finds him, surprisingly, in bed. Phantom pains tend to keep him there long enough for Raph to go dig up more blankets and he plants himself beside his brother just like he’s always done when it counts.

A day or two later and Donnie is himself, going on about his books in a way that makes an entire room light up. He’s got a big, goofy smile when he talks about sci-fi, one that feels like they’re fourteen again.

And he gives Raph these big awkward hugs before he goes, that say _thank you_ without words- and the hug says other things that Raph isn’t quite sure how to decipher just yet. Guilt, maybe.

And Donnie’ll give one last squeeze and say _I love you, you know that right?_ and it’ll suck because he says it like he’s never coming back, like a couple years back when Raph was picking pieces of his brother off tiled floors. There’s always this thing about Donnie that Raphael fears- his brother just never seemed permanent.

* * *

Raph pretends he hates when Leo comes by, but then Leo’s actually a big help with gardening and they share small, knowing smiles while they pat down seeds in the dirt because they both know that there’s so much left unsaid, and that they’re not ready to unearth that just yet- but they’re getting there and _“im always here to talk…about anything, man”._ It’s a mutual sentiment.

And Leo reminds Raph of their mother a lot like this- at least the little parts he remembers. He’s at peace in a sad kind of way; not really by choice but mellowed out anyway.

Raph’s pansies grow in beautifully.

* * *

After Mikey gets tired of being in bed and sad, he takes himself back to the city. He throws himself into helping, he writes letters and doesn’t send nearly half of them.

Mikey hangs at the farm the least actually, he loves the city (but he loves his brother more) so when he comes he makes sure to make it special. He brings new recipes and puts on a show while making dinner, perfecting his accents, depending on the region of his food’s origin. It’s funny. It makes Alopex laugh and Raph’s belly feels warm, his chest too.

His brother makes excellent work at brushing off anything serious. He doesn’t talk about Splinter, he doesn’t talk about anything with weight.

Maybe there’s pieces of Mikey stuck in a lot of places still. He hasn’t picked himself up all the way. Raph doesn’t question the process. He trusts Mikey’s got a plan to sort himself out someday.

Mikey drops a dish after a long dinner, a long night of laughter, and finally- he bursts.

He tells Raph that he’s tired and Raph believes him; he is too. But it’s different. Raph had much more closure than Mikey got.

He lets Mikey feed the chickens and name them and takes long runs with his brother early in the morning.

Mikey packs up to go back to New York after a week, braver than Raph could ever be.

**Author's Note:**

> :3 petition to get these boys therapy!


End file.
